Working in diplomacy and in public relations. Did you say propaganda?

As a first blog post, I thought that would be interesting to think about the role of public relations and the diplomacy parallel, in reflection to my own professional experience. I worked as an intern in French diplomacy for a few months, and this is where I started to take a deeper interest in media relations. As a master student in PR I also start to get some insights on this profession. PR practitioners explain that PR, diplomacy and public diplomacy are divisible - even though the concepts are tightly connected. Diplomats would thus benefit from PR knowledge; all while the latter could extend their vision and actions and learn from public diplomacy (L’Etang, 2009). The IPRA for instance, calls for PR professionals to add up the ‘corporate diplomat’ hat to their skills as states Robert W Grupp, IPRA president (PR Week, 2008).

In practice, working in diplomacy and working in PR seem to be quite similar. A great deal of confidence and secrecy is expected, as well as surveillance of news and upcoming issues or crisis. The public opinion on both these careers also tends to picture them as “propaganda” (L’Etang, 2009). From what I remember of my internship at the Embassy and from what I can currently observe studying Public Relations, I tend to agree with L’Etang, the value for these professions does not lays in a particular wisdom or knowledge, it rather is in how the practitioner communicates. I would add that it is all about having a head start on what the organization could be facing by constantly anticipating and updating tools and news surveillance.

As L’Etang writes in her article, and even the title of the article, PR and diplomacy have this common point to be considered propaganda. I was expecting a lot more public opinion manipulation and having to deal with highly sensitive information back when I started to work in diplomacy. My experience was different than my imagination. Two of my main tasks consisted in actually making an effort to observe and sum-up the daily news, using main national sources from all political wings, as well as promoting rising companies, scientific personalities and artists, all of which evidently had to be French. Indeed, governments do “build national and cultural identity through tourism and sport as forms of public diplomacy and internal PR as well as external PR (…)”, as L’Etang states. Is the “public agenda” that comes with these initiatives propaganda? Or is this all simply public relations? Do public relations constantly have to be assimilated with propaganda?

In my press officer internship experience, what I had to do was promoting the French culture — and it happened to be in an ally country. I was also summing up everyday a general portrait of the “today” press opinions. Despite the rather negative feeling the general public have towards diplomacy often considered propaganda, I did not have the feeling I was participating in corrupted or sensitive ways to communicate. I would argue that to me, the private sector often tends to imply more “propaganda” on an individual level. Perhaps was I just occupying a “values-based” PR position rather than a “power-based” PR one (Richards, 2004).


References

L'Etang, J. (2009). Public Relations and Diplomacy in a Globalized World: An Issue of Public Communication . SAGE Publication.

PR Week. (2008, November 7). 'Diplomacy is key' - IPRA. Retrieved January 26, 2017, from PR Week: http://www.prweek.com/article/860199/diplomacy-key---ipra

Richards, B. (2004). Terrorism and public relations. Public Relations Review, 30(2), 169–176